Alwaght- Russia and Qatar have signed a bilateral agreement on military and technical cooperation in Doha on Wednesday.
According to Russian media outlets, the document was endorsed by Russian Defense Minister, General Sergey Shoigu and Qatari Minister of State for Defense Khalid bin Mohammad Al Attiyah.
The representatives of Rosoboronexport and the Qatari Defense Ministry signed a memorandum and a frame contract on the military and technical cooperation in the two ministers’ presence.
Previously, the Qatari defense minister, Khalid bin Mohammad Al Attiyah, announced the country's interest in the cooperation with Russia in the defense sector, especially in modern Russian technologies. According to him, Doha wants to purchase Russian technologies for production of air defense systems.
Historically, Qatar used to buy US weaponry, with Doha ranking first in the world in terms of money spent on US-made weapons and military equipment in 2015.
The latest Qatar-Russia military agreement comes amid a worsening Persian Gulf crisis between Qatar and Saudi-led regimes.
On June 5, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt and Bahrain severed relations with Qatar and imposed a blockade against it, accusing Doha of funding "terrorism". Qatar has vehemently rejected the allegations as "baseless".
On June 22, the group issued a 13-point list of demands, including the shutdown of Al Jazeera TV, limiting ties with Iran, and expelling Turkish troops stationed in the country as a prerequisite to lifting the blockade. Doha rejected all the demands, denouncing them as attempts to infringe Qatar's sovereignty
Qatar is the world's largest exporter of liquefied natural gas, and also houses the region's biggest US military base with more than 11,000 American troops.
